Upgrade Personal Loans Review

Upgrade offers personal loans for various purposes, including:

The lender doesn’t allow borrowers to use loan funds for postsecondary education expenses, such as tuition, room and board, transportation and supplies.

To apply for an Upgrade loan, fill in the requested loan amount and the purpose of the loan. Once you provide some personal information, such as name, date of birth and earnings, Upgrade will do a soft credit check and provide the loan offers for which you qualify.

Once you’re approved, Upgrade sends funds to your bank or designated account within one business day, and availability of funds depends on how quickly your bank processes the transaction. The time from when your Upgrade personal loan is approved to when you can access the money should be no more than four business days.

Upgrade provides borrowers with fixed-rate personal loans from $1,000 to $50,000, with repayment terms from two to seven years. Your rate depends on your credit profile and will range from 7.96% to 35.97%.

The lender also offers personal lines of credit from $500 to $25,000 with repayment terms from two to seven years.

The lender charges an origination fee on all personal loans that ranges from 2.9% to 8%. The fee is deducted from your loan proceeds. The interest rate you pay depends on your credit score, credit usage history, loan term and other factors related to your financial profile.

There is no penalty or fee if you repay an Upgrade personal loan early.

Upgrade does not disclose a debt-to-income ratio needed for approval but discloses a minimum credit score of 560. It reviews your credit profile and focuses on what you make vs. what you spend.

Upgrade does not accept co-signers. Aside from credit score, eligibility for a personal loan from Upgrade also depends on credit usage and history, and you must be a U.S. citizen or have a U.S. visa, and be at least 18 or 19 years old, depending on state law. Upgrade will verify that you have a bank account and you must have a valid email address.

Upgrade does not disclose a minimum credit score needed for loan approval. It reviews your entire credit profile to ensure you can afford to pay for the loan. You can get prequalified and check loan offers without a hard credit check.

Upgrade is 100% online and does not have physical branches. It operates everywhere in the U.S. except West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Upgrade has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2017 and has a A+ rating. On Trustpilot, Upgrade has an excellent rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars based on an average of more than 20,000 reviews.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau received 24 complaints in 2020 about Upgrade, mostly about unexpected charges, incorrect information and problems making payments. Each complaint received a timely response and was closed with an explanation.

In U.S. News’ ratings of personal loan lenders, Upgrade received 4.1 out of 5 stars overall, 2.9 for affordability, 4.7 for eligibility and 4.9 for customer service. The median overall rating for personal loan lenders by U.S. News is 4.0.

Reach Upgrade’s customer service by calling 844-319-3909 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET on weekends.

If you have a complaint about your account or customer service, Upgrade suggests you contact its team at [email protected].

The Upgrade loan and line of credit process is completely online, including application, closing and account management. It also has a smartphone app.